UM Baseball Coach Wins C-USA Honor

HOUSTON – Head Coach Daron Schoenrock was selected the Keith LeClair Coach of the Year and Tigers southpaw Erik Schoenrock was picked Conference USA Pitcher of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday.

LHP Sam Moll joins Erik Schoenrock as a first team All-Conference selection and closer Jonathan Van Eaton was a second team All-Conference choice. Freshman Jake Little is on the C-USA All-Freshman Team, the first Memphis athlete to appear on the team since Drew Martinez and Adam McClain in 2009. Voting for all awards was done by a panel consisting of each head coach, each team's sports information director and a media representative from each city.

The awards won by Coach Schoenrock and left-handed pitcher Schoenrock are program firsts for the University of Memphis as a C-USA member. Erik Schoenrock is the first pitcher in program history to earn Pitcher of the Year recognition while Coach Schoenrock joins former coach Jeff Hopkins (1993/1994 Great Midwest Conference) as the Coach of the Year recipients.

Memphis was picked to finish sixth in the league’s preseason poll and Coach Schoenrock guided the Tigers to a tie for third-place, one game behind the co-champions. The U of M posted 33 regular season wins for the first time since 2007 and the eighth time in program history.

Erik Schoenrock tossed five complete games in 14 regular season starts and posted a 7-3 record with a 2.51 ERA. Schoenrock pitched five or more innings in 13 of 14 starts and logged seven or more innings on seven occasions. The junior southpaw fanned 85 batters during the season and sported a 3-0 record with a 1.17 ERA in four road starts against conference foes. Included in Schoenrock’s five complete games were two shutout performances and another where he allowed just one unearned run.

LHP Sam Moll posted numbers just as impressive as Schoenrock as the junior southpaw went 8-3 with a 2.38 ERA in 14 starts. Moll struck out 100 to become the sixth pitcher in program history to post 100 or more strikeouts in one season. The Lakeland, Tenn., native held opponents to a .199 average against and allowed two or fewer earned runs in 11 of his 14 starts, including the last seven starts.

Moll and Schoenrock are the first starting pitching duo on the All-Conference First Team since Todd McInnis and Geoffrey Thomas of Southern Miss earned the distinction in 2011 and just the sixth duo in league history to achieve the distinction. The pitching duo is the first for the University of Memphis to receive first team accolades since Dan Guehne and Collins Day were All-Great Midwest First Team selections in 1994.

Having set both the single-season and career saves record during the season, Jonathan Van Eaton was recognized on the All-Conference USA Second Team. Van Eaton sports a 3.14 ERA with 12 saves this season surpassing the previous single-season record of nine set by Matt Yokley in 2007. The Arlington, Tenn., native has 20 career saves, six better than Yokley had in his career. Van Eaton pitched in eight league games for eight innings of work without allowing an earned run while earning five saves. Van Eaton finished the regular season having limited opponents to a .202 average against while striking out 24.

With Moll and Schoenrock’s first team selections coupled with Van Eaton on the second team, Memphis has three pitchers recognized on the All-C-USA squads for the first time in program history. Three pitchers in 1994 earned All-Great Midwest honors.

Freshman Jake Little had his season cut short by injury, but the outfielder put together an impressive freshman campaign as he hit .299 with four home runs and 26 RBI in 44 games. Little had 19 extra-base hits to go with a team-high 12 stolen bases and fielded at a .953 clip.

The Tigers play UCF at 11 a.m. on Wednesday in the first of three games at the C-USA Tournament at Rice. Memphis plays UAB at 3 p.m. on Thursday before facing the host Rice at 11 a.m. Saturday.

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